August 21: Your Illuminated Heart

2 Corinthians 4:6. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Christian, your salvation is no less amazing, glorious, and important than the day God said “Let there be light.”

Every time we look at creation we get a glimpse into the glory of God. God said “let there be light” and everything was illuminated. By this light we see everything physical. In the same way, when we receive Christ, God says, “let there be light,” and by the glorious light of Christ we see everything spiritual.

Every Christian has an illuminated heart. By it we can see into the deepest secret that the universe holds – God’s mysterious redemptive plan through Christ. The language Paul uses in 2 Corinthians 4:6 takes us back to creation and forward to the new creation. Every time you look into your heart, you get to see the eternal plan of God. When you look at your heart you are looking at the beginning and end of time. Your salvation is why God created, and it why he re-created. The regenerated Christian is the goal of creation (true image bearers) and the beginning of the new creation.

Christian, do you ever think about your life this way? Are you aware of what you have? You now understand the meaning of life. You can see into the next dimension. You are aware of invisible spiritual warfare. You perceive spiritual death. You hate evil and cling to good. You understand the truths of God. You hope beyond death. You love beyond senses. You long for eternity. You are guided internally. You change. You create. You desire. You pray.

Why? Because now your heart images Christ. This is what salvation is – the illumination of the human heart by the glory of God in Christ, so that we might be transformed into Christ, the image of God.

2 Corinthians 4:4. [The Devil] keeps them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Christ is the ultimate spiritual reality, the ultimate mystery, plan, and knowledge of God shining in our very beings. To see Christ is to see God.

The prophet Isaiah talked about this illumination 700 years before Jesus.

Isaiah 60:1-2. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples;but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.

This is your salvation. God’s glory not just upon you, but in you. In you in the form of the life of Christ – his death, resurrection, and glorification. This illumination by the Spirit now opens your spiritual eyes to understand all of scripture through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ (like we just did with Isaiah). This illumination by the Spirit also opens your spiritual eyes to see all of life by the gospel.

Now you can see the upside down nature of the kingdom. First are last, last are first. Winning comes by losing. Strength comes by weakness. Living comes by dying. It takes an illuminated heart to believe that this is really the way to live.

“To live is Christ” means you have an illuminated heart. You see beyond sight to the spiritual realities of God. But these realities are also down to earth and accessible. Because they are a person, Jesus, and his love.

Do you believe that you have an illuminated heart by the Spirit? Where do you see the evidence of it in your life? Does this evidence match the gospel – sacrificial life, death, resurrection?